SOCIALISM IN A NUTSHELL: Mamdani’s Mental-Health Plan Is a Well-Worn Flop.

Mamdani’s mental-health policy seems to have been inspired by former mayor Bill de Blasio, of whom the mayor-elect is a fan. Under de Blasio, the city burned more than $1 billion on ThriveNYC, a mental-health bureaucracy that offered an array of wellness programs but did little for the seriously mentally ill. While Mayor Eric Adams laudably prioritized untreated serious mental illness during his one term, he did not abandon ThriveNYC programming, which Mamdani is rebranding as part of his “Department of Community Safety.”

The lack of novelty is apparent in Mamdani’s most talked about mental-health proposal: deploying social workers instead of cops in response to emotionally disturbed person calls. New York City has experimented with non-cop and “co-response” teams since 2021, with mixed results.

There’s little new, either, in the rest of Mamdani’s mental-health platform, which offers standard progressive talking points, like expanded voluntary mental health and wellness services. Most New Yorkers agree that the city needs to address untreated serious mental illness. But more of the same won’t help allay these concerns.

But maybe with the “right” people in charge…